Jack Reacher creator Lee Child has revealed that it took him 25 books to truly feel he had “achieved something” in life.
The best-selling author, now 71, said it was only after reaching that milestone that he felt content enough to step back and eventually hand over the hugely successful thriller series to his younger brother Andrew, 57.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Lee reflected on a difficult childhood in Birmingham, describing his parents as emotionally “repressed” after living through the Depression and the Second World War. He said that lack of emotional support stayed with him for decades.
Even as his career took off, recognition at home was slow to come. His father famously bet that the first Jack Reacher novel would fail. Instead, the series went on to sell more than 100 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 49 languages.
Lee said his mother only began to realise his success after overhearing strangers praising Jack Reacher in a hairdresser’s salon. But the real turning point came later, when his parents asked him for a loan so they could quickly buy a show house before selling their own.
“That was a massive turning point,” he said. “They had to face it — he’s a success now.”
Asked whether that moment unlocked something emotionally, Lee said it did, but only slightly. He explained that self-acceptance came painfully slowly.
“When people ask me if I’m happy now I’ve retired, I say no — I retired because now I’m happy,” he said. “It took me literally 24 or 25 books to feel, ‘You know what, you’re a worthwhile person. You’ve achieved something. You’re OK.’”
Lee moved to the United States in 1998 to begin his writing career after being made redundant from his job at Granada Television. He returned to the UK last year after retiring, saying the country feels very different from the one he left nearly three decades ago.
One change he particularly welcomed was a greater openness around mental health.
“I think the acceptance of the reality that people have mental health problems is hugely important,” he said. “Growing up, people suffered, but there was no mechanism to say it. I wish someone had told me as a kid that it’s OK to feel screwed up — it’s not your fault, and it’s not a weakness.”
The Jack Reacher books have since been adapted into two films starring Tom Cruise, as well as a hit Prime Video series led by Alan Ritchson.
For his desert island luxury, Lee chose a battered paperback copy of Killing Floor, the first Reacher novel — a reminder, he said, that he now works in the same trade as William Shakespeare.